A Glimpse
by ARoseWithThorns
Summary: One-Shot:  In the days and weeks following Thor's departure, Jane dreams of him, culminating in a final, very revelatory glimpse of what Thor intends for her as his mate.  Rated M, please read responsibly.


The dreams were becoming more and more frequent. From the moment Thor kissed her, Jane had felt an intense connection to him, not emotional, not spiritual, but a marriage of the two that let her know, somehow, that he was alive and well. The first dream came about three days from the battle in town. It came in the form of blurred images of their time together, twisted and shadowed collages of their flirtations, discussions, and experiences melded into an in-discernable film in her mind, then exploding into magnificent constellations – these were the dreams she was more used to, the vast fathom of the cosmos, worlds beyond her own, and a glorious, multi-hued pathway that she began to travel, but then woke up on her lawn chair, her body tingling as though she'd actually been there.

Subsequent dreams were little snippets, pieces of their conversations, just mere moments of their shared admiration for one another, and of course her memory of their kiss. Nothing new was ever revealed, it was just as if someone or something was trying to help her remember it all – as if she could forget.

Jane smirked to herself as she poured hot water from a stainless steel tea kettle into a mug with cocoa powder. While her "temporary living situation" had drastically changed in the course of a mere ten days, her feelings for Thor had not. She could almost feel him. She knew that whatever had kept him in Asgaard had nothing to do with his feelings for her, and the rational, analytical astrophysicist in her would not let herself get wrapped up in emotion, when so much greatness and knowledge of the universe had been unleashed; indeed, wrapped up and set in a neat little box virtually on her doorstep for the opening.

SHIELD had given her a very pregnant check for her research and troubles, with a decent amount of zeros behind the impressive figure, and after investing in all the equipment she would need to use and build more of her own devices, she used a small portion of it to immediately move herself and Darcy into a larger, luxurious mobile home, about twenty miles west of the site where she'd last seen Thor. Of course, it was enclosed by high security gates and perimeters as the building that now housed her equipment and research was right next to it, but it was a price she was willing to pay. She was able to decorate her own, reasonably-sized bedroom in the same lavender/blue/gray style she had had in her old New York flat, even if she never slept in it that much. She still nursed the habit of sleeping outside, always keeping a lawn chair adjacent to her own as she gazed towards the heavens, as if to let him know she remembered.

The dream that startled her, however, came on a night she chose to sleep inside. It had been about two months. Darcy had made some of her usual quips about what "tall, blonde and dangerous" was doing to keep him so long, but Jane just stuck to her research and began investigating further into her ideas of travel by intergalactic wormholes. She sighed as she fell back against her comfortable duvet, combing her fingers through her dark hair as she stared up at the stellar mobile she'd put in her room. She was asleep almost instantly, and right away, she knew it was different.

She felt warm lips on her neck, the soft hair of Thor's beard tickle her shoulder slightly as he kissed her. From what little attention she could pay during his ministrations, she gathered that they were in some type of grand room – opulence, was a word that came to her mind, a word her Father often used when telling her stories of the galaxies and their beauty, at bedtime in her childhood. She didn't have much capacity, though, to do anything but melt into Thor's arms as he embraced her from behind, caressing her bared shoulders. She was vaguely aware of wearing some type of elegant gown, and jewelry.

"Jane," he said warmly, lightly using two fingers to turn her chin up towards him. His eyes glittered like brilliant amethysts, and Jane simply couldn't think.

"I love the way you say my name," she whispered. He smiled broadly, and his face became a blur as he leaned down to claim her mouth with his own.

Even in the dream, she loved being engulfed by him. In a profession where women had to work twice as hard as men simply to survive, she had had to work three times as hard to make it to the top – so any potential man in her life had to be equally as strong-willed and intelligent in order for her to fall in love with them. Thor put them all to shame, embracing her petite form like a huge, warm blanket, and she knew that blanket was both intellectual and physical, despite the vast boundaries of time and space; that's why it was real – that is why it was love.

He kissed her softly at first, pebbling kisses on her upper and lower lips as his hand spanned half of her waist like a belt, the other carding fingers through her soft, dark hair. She was vaguely aware of a webbed-sort of silver piece on her head; like a veil, coming over just to the middle of her forehead. She released one hand from the rock-hard muscles of his arms to touch the hairpiece. "W-what is this?" she managed between kisses. It felt webbed and expensive, and she could feel metallic nubs and the small, smooth surface of jems or diamonds at the interlinked points on it. As the kiss verged on becoming more passionate and Thor's large hands began wandering, she summoned up all her strength to come up for air. "Thor, where are we? This doesn't feel like a dream."

Thor sighed, his breath ragged, and he pressed his forehead lightly against her own. "These are my personal chambers, and you are having a … dream, as you call it, but truly here for the moment through a gift Heimdall has given me."

"What, so this is like a – mirage?"

Thor's light eyebrows knitted together in confusion. "It is… a glimpse. Nothing more, I am afraid." He took her hands in his own, and once again she was struck at just how strong, and larger than her he was. "Jane, we haven't much time, but please know this." He stepped even closer to her than he had previously been, and she could smell him. _Smell _him in a dream – Foreign spices, earth, sky. "I am truly sorry for not returning as I said I would …" his countenance darkened. "There were… complications. But I mean to come back to you soon, and Jane," He turned her around, her back to his chest, and she let out an audible gasp.

A few feet away from them was a ceiling-to-toe mirror, and in it they were reflected, him in his full regalia and scarlet-red cape, she in a silver-colored, exotic gown that complimented his shining armor. She looked beautiful, and she looked like she belonged there. But that wasn't what startled her; it was the insignia the headpiece formed on her forehead; she knew inexplicably that it was a crown. He leaned to her ear, his lips brushing the bejeweled lobes as he growled in his husky, melodic voice, "I intend to have you as my Queen."

Jane drew in a sharp breath, and suddenly a sharp image flashed in the mirror's reflection of them nude and in the same position, him touching her and her head thrown back.

Jane bolted upright in bed, her heart pounding and trickles of perspiration making their way down hser throat. But it wasn't the lucid dream/revelation she'd just had, nor the graphic image that sent blood flowing straight down to her core in a very real way, that made her breath catch – it was the stellar mobile as she looked up, spinning around as though someone had set it off. The startling thing though, was that in the place of the Milky Way constellation, were now realistic, circular models of nine realms, and the one she instantly recognized as Asgaard was lit up.

Slowly, Jane smiled.

THE END


End file.
